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America Is the Developed World’s Second Most Ignorant Country

by Nina55Twyeiebi Posted on November 17, 2014

Mother Jones

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A couple of days ago Vox ran a story about a new Ipsos-MORI poll showing that Americans think the unemployment rate right now is an astonishing 32 percent—higher than during the Great Depression. The correct answer, of course, is about 6 percent. And this is not just a harmless bit of ignorance, like not being able to name the vice president. “It matters,” we’re told, “because the degree to which people perceive problems guides how they make political decisions.”

My first thought when I saw this is the same one I have a lot: how has this changed over time? After all, if Americans always think the unemployment rate is way higher than it is, then it doesn’t mean much. But I couldn’t find any previous polling data on this. I made a few desultory attempts in between football games this weekend, but came up empty.

Luckily, John Sides is a stronger man than me, and also more familiar with the past literature on this stuff. It turns out there’s not very much to look at, actually, but what there is suggests that this Ipsos-MORI poll is a weird outlier. Generally, speaking, most people do know roughly what the unemployment rate is:

In this 1986 article….two-thirds, stated that the unemployment rate was 10 percent, 11 percent, or 12 percent — a substantial degree of accuracy.

In this 2014 article….approximately 40-50 percent of respondents could estimate this rate within 1 percentage point.

In this 2014 article….most respondents gave fairly accurate estimates — which is reflected in the median.

So the whole thing is a little odd. In past polls, people weren’t too far off. In this one, they’re off by more than 25 points. Something doesn’t add up, but it’s not clear what. In any case, it’s worth taking this whole thing with a grain of salt.

But all is not lost. If you decide to take this poll seriously anyway, you might be interested to know that the unemployment results are merely one part of a broader report titled “Perils of Perception.” Basically, it’s an international survey showing just how wrong people in different countries are about things like murder rates, number of Muslims, teen birth rates, voting, and so forth. This is then compiled into a handy “Index of Ignorance.”

So who’s #1? Not us. We came in second to Italy. But that’s not too bad! We’re pretty damn ignorant, and with a little less effort we might take the top spot next year. Still, even though Germans and Swedes may feel smug about their knowledge of demographic facts, can they launch pointless wars in the Middle East whenever they feel like it? No they can’t. So there.

POSTSCRIPT: On a slightly more serious note, Sides tells us that not only is the Ipsos-MORI poll an odd outlier, but that his research suggests that ignorance of the unemployment rate has very little impact on people’s attitudes anyway. I’d say the Ipsos-MORI poll accidentally confirms this. The German public, for example, has a much more accurate view of the unemployment rate than the American public. So has that helped their policymaking? It has not. Over the past few years, Germany has probably had the worst economic policy of any developed country, while the US has had among the best. A well-informed public may be less important than we think.

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America Is the Developed World’s Second Most Ignorant Country

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Two Important Notes For Anyone Renewing Obamacare Coverage

by MaikSeibert Posted on November 15, 2014

Mother Jones

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Today is the first day of the 2015 signup period for Obamacare. If you currently have coverage, you need to decide whether to keep the plan you have or shop around for a different one. Here are a couple of key things to keep in mind—whether you’re buying coverage for yourself or know friends who are:

As the New York Times points out today, it’s possible that the net price of your current coverage could go up substantially this year. Here’s why: the size of the federal subsidy depends on the price of your plan relative to other plans. If your plan was the cheapest on offer last year, it qualified for a maximum subsidy. But if other, cheaper plans are offered this year, and your plan is now, say, only the fourth cheapest, you’ll get a smaller subsidy. So even if your actual plan premium stays the same, your net cost could go up a lot.

This is, naturally, becoming a partisan attack point, but don’t ignore it just because the usual suspects are making hay with it. It’s a real issue that anyone buying insurance on a state or federal exchange should be aware of.

Bottom line: shop around. Don’t just hit the renew button without checking things out.
Andrew Sprung has been writing tirelessly about something called Cost Sharing Reduction. It’s not well known, but it could be important to you. Today, Sprung tells us that the new version of healthcare.gov has a pretty nice shoparound feature that allows you to enter some basic information and then provides a comparison of all plans in your area. I tried it myself, and sure enough, the “window shopping” feature works nicely and is easily accessible from the home page.

However, it doesn’t do a good job of steering you toward silver-level plans, which are the only ones eligible for Cost Sharing Reduction. For example, I shopped for a plan for a low-income family of three in Missouri, and the cost of the cheapest bronze plan was $0. The cost of the cheapest silver plan was $90 per month. That’s an extra $1,000 per year, and a lot of low-income families will naturally gravitate toward the cheaper plan, especially since it’s the first one they see.

But the bronze plan has both a deductible and an out-of-pocket cap of $12,600. The silver plan with CSR has a deductible of $2,000 and an out-of-pocket cap of $3,700. Unless you’re literally rolling the dice that you’re never going to see a doctor this year, you’re almost certain to be better off with the silver plan, even though the up-front monthly premium is a little higher.

Bottom line: shop around. The plan that looks cheapest often isn’t, and for low-income buyers a silver plan is often your best bet. For more, here’s the CSR page at healthcare.gov. And for even more, Sprung has details about shopping at the new site here and here.

I guess the bottom line is obvious by now: shop around. Even if you can navigate the website yourself, be careful. Not everything is obvious at first glance. And if you’re not comfortable doing it by yourself, don’t. Get help from an expert in your state. You have three months to sign up, so there’s no rush.

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Two Important Notes For Anyone Renewing Obamacare Coverage

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What World Leader Has Done the Most Damage to the Global Economy?

by JaimeLevering Posted on October 17, 2014

Mother Jones

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Who’s worse: Amity Shlaes or Angela Merkel? You have to give the nod to Merkel, of course. Unlike Shlaes, who is limited to cheering on horrifically bad ideas that would immiserate millions, Merkel has the power to actually implement horrifically bad ideas that immiserate millions. And she has. So Merkel it is.

Now, if instead the question were how Merkel compares to, say, John Boehner and Paul Ryan, then it would be a tougher choice. I think Merkel would still win, though. When it comes to bullheaded insistence on terrible economic policy, she’s hard to top.

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What World Leader Has Done the Most Damage to the Global Economy?

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Flooding the Zone on Ebola

by NFRJacklyn Posted on October 17, 2014

Mother Jones

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For the record, I want to note that the top five stories currently featured on the Washington Post home page are about Ebola. If you count related pieces, it’s the top nine. That is all.

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Flooding the Zone on Ebola

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Rick Scott Takes Late Lead In Southeast Division of Jackass Competition

by FrancisGottscha Posted on October 16, 2014

Mother Jones

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WTF?

In one of the weirdest, and most Floridian moments in debate history, Wednesday night’s gubernatorial debate was delayed because Republican Governor Rick Scott refused to take the stage with Democratic challenger Charlie Crist and his small electric fan….Rather than waiting for the governor to emerge, the debate started with just Crist onstage. “We have been told that Governor Scott will not be participating in this debate,” said the moderator. The crowd booed as he explained the fan situation, and the camera cut to a shot of the offending cooling device.

“That’s the ultimate pleading the fifth I have ever heard in my life,” quipped Crist, annoying the moderators, who seemed intent on debating fan rules and regulations. After a few more awkward minutes, Scott emerged, and the debate proceeded, with only one more electronics dispute. When asked why he brought the fan, Christ answered, “Why not? Is there anything wrong with being comfortable? I don’t think there is.”

There are plenty of Republicans who I find more extreme, or more moronic, or more panderific than Rick Scott. But for sheer pigheaded dickishness, he’s a hard act to beat. Jeebus.

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Rick Scott Takes Late Lead In Southeast Division of Jackass Competition

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Tom Cotton Is Upset That Democrats Ended a Free Money Stream for Banks

by Shirleen7471 Posted on October 15, 2014

Mother Jones

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The latest from the campaign trail:

Republican Tom Cotton said during an Arkansas U.S. Senate debate on Tuesday that “Obamacare nationalized the student loan industry.” The first-term congressman added, “That’s right, Obamacare grabbed money to pay for its own programs and took that choice away from you.”

Huh. Does Cotton really think this is a winning issue? I mean, it has the virtue of being kinda sorta semi-true, which is a step up for Cotton, but why would his constituents care? Does Cotton think they’re deeply invested in the old system, where their tax dollars would go to big banks, who would then make tidy profits by doling out risk-free student loans that the federal government guaranteed?

That never made any sense. It would be like paying banks to distribute Social Security checks. What’s the point? The new student loan system saves a lot of money by making the loans directly, and that’s something that fiscal conservatives should appreciate. Instead, they’ve spent the past four years tearing their hair out over the prospect of Wall Street banks being shut out of the free money business. Yeesh.

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Tom Cotton Is Upset That Democrats Ended a Free Money Stream for Banks

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It Doesn’t Matter Which Diet You Choose

by Frederick Cunningham Posted on October 14, 2014

Mother Jones

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In the category of “news you can use,” Emily Oster summarizes a new study that compares weight loss on various diets. After cutting through all the muck, we get the chart on the right. The answer, it turns out, is that all of the diets are about equally effective.

So which one you choose is mostly a matter of preference. If you think you can stick to a low-carb diet, choose one of those. If you like vegetables, choose a veggie-based plan. If you think you can tolerate low fat, go for one of those. What matters isn’t so much the mechanics of the diet, but whether you can stick with it over the long haul.

(If your doctor recommends a particular diet because you suffer from some particular condition, then of course this changes things. And remember, “don’t be an idiot” is always an unvoiced component of all diet and health recommendations.)

As for me, I’m on the three-quarters diet. I do this about once a decade or so and then spend the succeeding decade gaining back the weight I lost. This is my third go-around. As you might guess, it’s a pretty simple diet: eat less food. In particular, I try to eat about three quarters of my usual meals and snacks. I’m finding it much more annoying this time than in the past—partly because I’m working at home, where temptation is ever present, and partly because my motivation and self-discipline have deteriorated over the years. However, the precipitous collapse of my body over the past six months is providing at least some short-term motivation, and yesterday I learned that my sleep apnea is apparently much worse than it was a decade ago. Maybe weight loss will help with that. I hope so, since I had no luck with a CPAP machine back then, and I kind of doubt I’ll have better luck this time around. But we’ll see.

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It Doesn’t Matter Which Diet You Choose

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Darrell Issa is Finally Going Off His Nut

by LynellLamothe Posted on October 14, 2014

Mother Jones

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Darrell Issa’s latest jihad is also one of his most peculiar: he’s accusing the EPA of working too closely with environmental groups. Seriously. That’s it. Here’s a report from the New York Times about the “cozy” relationship between EPA administrator Gina McCarthy and David Doniger, a lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council:

Republicans say the most vivid example of a cozy relationship is an email exchange … celebrating legal maneuvering that provided Mr. Obama with something both the E.P.A. and the environmental group wanted: a court-ordered deadline for release of a 2012 E.P.A. regulation curbing greenhouse gas emissions on future power plants — a precursor to Mr. Obama’s announcement in June. (The environmental group had joined with others to sue the E.P.A. to force the regulation, and the E.P.A. quickly settled.)

On Dec. 23, 2010, the day the settlement was announced, Mr. Doniger emailed Ms. McCarthy, “Thank you for today’s announcement. I know how hard you and your team are working to move us forward and keep us on the rails. This announcement is a major achievement.” He added, “We’ll be with you at every step in the year ahead.”

Ms. McCarthy responded, “Thanks David. I really appreciate your support and patience. Enjoy the holiday. The success is yours as much as mine.”

Reacting to the email exchange, Mr. Vitter said in a statement: “Who is working for whom? The key example in all of this is the settlement agreement on greenhouse gases when the N.R.D.C. sued the E.P.A., the E.P.A. settled, and the two celebrate the agreement. It doesn’t get any more blatantly obvious than that.”

Explosive! “Thanks David. I really appreciate your support and patience.” Truly a smoking gun of improper influence. They used first names and everything!

Issa must really be getting desperate. I mean, normally I understand the supposed malfeasance in his investigations. I may think his charges are foolish, but at least I get it. But this time? Even in theory, what’s supposed to be wrong here? An environmental group expressing pleasure at a court ruling? The EPA administrator sending back a polite note? Everybody knew all along that both sides wanted the same thing, so this is hardly a surprise. And certainly light years from scandalous.

Issa must be going off his nut because his investigations keep failing to excite anyone. Or maybe this is just designed to provide some fodder for fundraising emails for the upcoming election. It’s hard to figure out what else could be going on.

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Darrell Issa is Finally Going Off His Nut

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Fundraising Effort for Ferguson Cop Who Shot Michael Brown Gets Ugly

by LacyVachon Posted on August 21, 2014

Mother Jones

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Comments left on a GoFundMe crowdfunding page in support of Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. Compiled by Jon Hendren

The comments seen in the image above were written by donors to the online fund set up to support Darren Wilson, the cop who shot Michael Brown six times in Ferguson, Missouri, last week. Wilson has since been placed on paid administrative leave and is in an undisclosed location. The GoFundMe campaign to assist him was set up earlier this week by an unnamed supporter. “We stand behind Officer Darren Wilson and his family during this trying time in their lives,” the page reads. It has since raised nearly $150,000.

Among the comments left by donors:

“Ofc. Wilson did his duty. Michael Brown was just a common street thug.”

“Waste of good ammo. It’s my privilege to buy you a replacement box.”

“Black people can be their own enemy and I am not white…He was shot 6 times cause the giant wouldn’t stop or die. Evil people don’t die quick”

“All self-respecting whites have a moral responsibility to support our growing number of martyrs to the failed experiment called diversity.”

“I am so sick of the blacks using every excuse in the book to loot and riot.”

“I support officer Wilson and he did a great job removing an unnecessary thing from the public!”

The collection of comments above was compiled by Jon Hendren, a comedy writer in San Jose, California. Hendren told Mother Jones that he took screenshots of the comments on the page that seemed especially offensive and compiled them into one image using Photoshop. “There were maaaany more that were borderline or ambiguous or a small dollar amount that I would’ve also captured, but I got so annoyed that I began to get a headache, so I stopped when I did,” he explains.

“A couple folks have asked me to wait until we know all the facts before passing judgment, which is kind of absurd,” says Hendren. “People are donating money with racist sentiment and to celebrate a killing—I’m not sure what other facts I should be waiting for. The vast majority expressed disgust and revulsion though.”

I’ve asked the creator of the GoFundMe page to comment. I’ll update this post if I hear back; she told The Daily Beast earlier this week that she is not speaking with the press.

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Fundraising Effort for Ferguson Cop Who Shot Michael Brown Gets Ugly

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Go Green on Saint Patrick’s Day

by aerjbnvzij Posted on February 20, 2014

Green glass bottles with lights for party decorations. Photo: flickr/rubberdragon

According to Use-less-stuff.com, Americans throw away 25% more trash during the Thanksgiving to New Year’s holiday period than any other time of year.  Even if your environmental footprint is the size of a leprechaun’s, it’s likely that you donated more than usual to the landfill.  So for this St. Patrick’s Day, why not turn over a new leaf, or four-leaf-clover?

Here are some simple ways to be truly green on St. Patty’s Day:

Green your home

Decorate for the holiday by making a wreath made out of old green t-shirts, denim, tablecloths, tea towels, curtains and any other upcycled material that’s taking up space.   You’ll need a wire wreath frame, which you can recycle later, fabric shears and your collection of fabric.  Cut the fabric into small strips and tie onto the wire until it covers every inch.  Once you’ve pre-cut the fabric, this project becomes kid-friendly and parent-friendly since no glue or messy paint are required.

Consider using green beverage bottles and add lights to create fun ambiance or swap out your vases for green ones by spray-painting old bottles to add pops of green color in every room.  Don’t forget to use an eco-friendly spray paint that’s free of CFCs!

Green your food

Dedicate your meals to your city by only cooking with locally-grown produce.  By doing so you’ll donate your dollars to the local economy and enjoy fresher food that hasn’t been shipped from thousands of miles away – saving the atmosphere from more pollution.

Make it a fun project for the kids and dye your food green using natural ingredients.  By following these instructions, you can make a green dye at home using matcha powder, spirulina, powder, parsley juice, wheat grass juice, spinach juice, spinach powder or parsley powder.

Green your beer

No kids allowed for this one.  Pledge to drink locally-brewed beer while celebrating the holiday.  Again, you’ll be a hometown hero for contributing to your local economy while sipping on a cold one.  Take it a step further by drinking draught beer instead of bottles since not all bars and restaurants recycle glass.  Cheers!

earth911

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Go Green on Saint Patrick’s Day

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